Freight-transfer device.



J. L. ADAM.

FREIGHT TRANSFER DEVICE.

APPLIOATION FILED $311.22, 1908.

926,227, Patented June 29, 1909.

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J. L. ADAM. FRBIGET TRANSFER DEVICE. AFPLIOATION FILED APR. 22, 1908.

Patented June 29, 1909.

,, Altorney:

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JOHN L. ADAM, OF NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

FREIGHT-TRANSFER DEVICE To all whom "it may concern:

Be it known that I, Jenn L. Anni, a citizen of the United States, and resident of New Orleans, Orleans parish, State of Louisiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Freight-llransfer Devices; and my preferred manner of carrying out the invention is set forth in the following full, clear, and exact description, terminating wit-h claims particularly specifying the novelty.

The invention relates to railway rolling stock, and more especially to that class of devices known broadly as mail bag delivery; and the object of the same is to provide a single device 011 the car and another on the post at the station whereby each will doliver one package to the other and receive another package from it, thus producing an interchange or transfer of packages. In a companion application for patent now pending, filed by me I ebruary 13, 1908, No. 415,745), I cover the details of a device of substantially this same general character for the transfer of mail bags each of which is carried in a bag holder, but in the present application I propose to transfer pieces of freightor express, or perhaps passengers and other live and delicate articles, and hence I have called the present invention a freight transfer in contradistiin-tion to a mail bag transfer as set forth in said companion application. Certain details and aln 'ili'fications of the idea are also shown herein, the object being to permit the successful operation of the device whichever way the car is moving, to deliver from the car to the post or vice versa or to transfer from one to the other simultaneously, and to perfect and improve said details: all as set forth in the following specification and illustrated in the 2\('(J()11l]')lll1 \,*lll drawings wherein liigure 1 is a general perspective view of the device in operation on a car which is supposed to be moving to the right, the transfer being about to be made; Fig. 2 is a similar view of the car after the transfer has been made, with the crane swung inward so that the operator within the car can remove the holder from it: Fig. is a plan view with the car supposed to be moving to the left, the full lines showing the position of parts before the transfer and the dotted lines indicating their position immediately after the transfer has been made;

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 22, 1908. Serial No. 428,6l t.

Patented June 29, 1909.

Fig. t is an enlarged plan view of part of the crane on the car in section to show the cam and plunger for retarding the rotation of the shaft. .Fig. 5 is a detail of the holder, and .Fig. (3 of one of its handles.

in the drawings the numeral 1 designates a fixed support such as a post, and 101 a swinging support such as an upright rod mounted in eyes 102 on the car 100, and from either support projects a crane consisting princi mlly of brackets 103 in which is journaled an upright shaft 11 having nuts 14; at its extremities adapted to be set so as to adjust the tension of springs 13 to retard or reduce its rotation. The support .1, is usually fixed as by being part. of a. building, or a post suitably braced as shown; whereas the swinging support 10L on the car is adapted to be moved by a lever 17 attached to it and extending into the car over a segment 15) to which it can be locked in proper position by a catch 18 or other suitable device. l ig. 23 indicates in dotted lines how the lever may be moved to the position 17 so that the crane will be swung bodily to a point opposite the door in the ear and within reach of the operator. This view and Fig. both illustrate stout and straight brackets 10?, connecting the support with the shaft, and the uppermost prefer ably strengthened and supported by a swinging truss rod lot) pivoted at its upper end to an eye it)? in the side of the car or on the post in order to give the cran additional strength.

()n the shaft 11 at top or bottom or both are fixed rams each having a flattened face 131, and within a housing on the adjacent bracket 103 is located an expan sivc spring 12 which operates a plunger Ml perferably having an enlarged head 1 12 that bears constantly against the edge of the cam 11-30 or its flattened face 131 when the latter comes opposite. It is to be understood that strength to such an extent as to permit the omission of the springs 13 above described, although I consider their use 111 addition to it) E) the tension device perferablethe idea being that when heavy articles of freight are handled by this machine it will probably be necessary to exert considerable friction to retard the rotation of the shaft 11 as set forth below.

The holder 2 for the freight or package which is used with this invention is substantially that set forth in my companion application above referred to except that its parts must be amplified and strengthened to meet the increased strain thrown upon them. F or the purposes of the presentapplication, this comprises a box shaped body 3 one side of which may be a door 21 preferably hinged to the body as at 22 at its lower end so as to form a gangway when let down and connected with the body by a catch 28 engaging a keeper 2-1, although the hinges could be otherwise placed if desired. At each end of this holder is a handle, best seen in F 6, which comprises a body 4 having a rather wide inner eye 8 and a smaller and preferably circular outer eye 5, and from the handles depend preferably four links 41 each having a hook 42 adapted to engage an eye at the corner of that end of the body as indicated at the top of Fig. 5. Obviously the handles could be part of the box, but I prefer to make them detach able as described. he size of this box is immaterial as well as its materials and proportions, but it is to be manufactured with the intention that it may contain a rather large sized package and perhaps a human being standing upright or seated therein as will be understood. In any event the handles stand at a predetermined distance from each other for purposes to be explained below.

In the preferred embodiment of my invention, pairs of hooks 7 are secured at 9 and 10 to the upper and lower portion of each shaft 11, the shanks of the hooks of each pair standing in a vertical plane and converging or approaching each other at their outer extremities shown; and by preference each hook is made double, or in other words it projects in a straight line on both sides of the shaft so that the hooks will re ceive a bag in whichever direction the car is moving. Adjacent these hooks are arms 6 which 1 roject from the shaft at rightangles to the plane occupied by the hook bodies. Each arm preferably has a spur 60 near its outer end, and each hook has a spring catch carried by its body. In the operative position of parts the hooks are parallel with the track and the arms project outward from the car toward the post and those on the post project outward from its crane toward the car this position being maintained by the respective tension devices although disturbed in the act of catching a holder or making a transfer.

The operation of the device as just described will be as follows. The freight or passenger being placed in the holder of Fig. 5 as by being moved over the door 21 when used as a gangway. the eyes 5 of the handles are engaged upon the outer ends of the arms (3 against the spurs 60, and the crane if it be a swinging one swung out to operative position with the hooks parallel with the track, and the plunger l l-l engaging the cam face 1.31 hold them parallel. If a transfer of holders is to be made, another is hung upon the crane on the post in like manner. the car approaches the post, the tips of its forward hooks 7 enter the larger eyes 8 in the handles of the holder supported by the crane on the post. and which eyes are laterally elongated purposely to take up for the vibration of the car, its movements around curves, and other irregularities which are known to exist: and at the same moment the tips of the hooks 7 on the stationary crane enter similar eyes 8 of the holder on the car. Further progress of the car causes the tips of the hooks to pass through the eyes 8 so that the latter slide onto the diverging shanks of the hooks, and pass over their spring catches '70. During this operation the eyes have been stripped oil the extremities of the arms 6, and the force of impact causes the arms to swing to the rear and both shafts 11 to rotate in their hearings in the brackets as far as necessary and as limited by the tension of the springs in one or both of the tension devices, mtil the inertia of the holders has spent itself the device on the car having meanwhile passed that on the post as will be understood. .ereafter tle operator the station may depress the spring catches T0 and disengage the holder there while the operator within the car will swing the lever 1? so that through toe door 105 he can permit the exit of the passenger from the holder. or remove the holder bodily from the swinging crane and the passenger or freight can be taken out of the holder within the car. if the car be moving in the opposite direction, as indicated in 3, a transfer of holders is effected in precise y the same manner except that hey are caught by the hooks of both devices on the oppos te sides of their shafts from those which come into play with the ear moving to the right in Figs. 1 and 2. I nee the provision of 1, double set of hooks Y on each crane rent it useful whatever the direction of movenient while the single pair of arms on each crane is always set so that they will projecttoward the other crane and obvio sly the length of the arms is such that they will support the holder to be delivered so that it will stand in the plane of the hooks on the other crane which are to do the catching. In my forn'ier application above noted I de tlected the extremities of the arms at right Cli angles to their shanksin the present application I do not employ this structure as it is not essential, especially if the spurs G0 are used; but when the deflected extremities are not employed the supporting eyes 5 will stand at right angles to the catching eyes 8 as shown in Fig. (3. As said catching eyes on one holder engage the extremities of the hooks on the other device, they slide to the rear on the shanks of the hooks and straight toward the shaft, but the fact that the shanks diverge and that the eyes can not spread apart retards and finally checks the progressive movement of the holder. Since the latter cannot move farther forward, the tendency is to swing its supporting arms to the rear and this in turn rotates its own shaft in its bearings. Meanwhile its own hooks will be catching the other holder if a transfer is to be made, and the same tendency to rotate will be imparted to the other sliaft hence the utility of the tension de vices for retarding and finally checking the rotation of both shafts.

What is claimed as new is:

1. In a freight catcher, the combination with an upright rotary shaft, means for retarding its rotation, and hooks projecting radially from said shaft; of a freight holder comprising handles having eyes adapted to be simultaneously engaged by said hooks and a box-shaped body connecting the handles, and means for releasably supporting the holder.

2. In a freight catcher, the combination with an upright rotary shaft, means for retarding its rotation, hooks projecting radially from said shaft, and spring catches on said hooks; of a freight holder comprising handles having eyes adapted to be simultaneously engaged by said hooks and a body carried by the handles, and means for releasably supporting the holder.

8. In a freight catcher, the combination with an upright rotary shaft, means for retarding its rotation, hooks projecting radially from said shaft and converging toward their tips, and movable catches on the hooks; of a freight holder comprising handles having eyes adapted to be simultaneously engaged by said tips and a body connecting the handles and holding them at a predetermined distance apart, and means for releasabl-y supporting the holder.

il. In a freight catcher, the con'ibination with a support, an upright shaft mounted therein, means for retarding its rotation, and parallel hooks secured to and each projecting in a straight line on both sides of said shaft; of parallel catching arms projecting from the shaft at right angles to the hooks.

5. In a freight delivery device, the combination with an upright rotary shaft, means for retarding its rotation, and arms projecting radially from said shaft and having spurs near their extremities; of a freight holder con'iprising handles having eyes adapted to be simultaneously engaged by said extremities and a body connecting the handles, and means for catching the holder and stripping its eyes of said extremities.

(i. In a freight handling device, the combination with an upright rotary shaft, means for retarding its rotation, and catching and delivering members projecting therefrom at right angles to each other; of a freight; holder having an eye adapted to be removably supported by the delivering member and another eye at right angles to the lirst and adapted to be engaged by the catching member.

'7. In a freight handling device, the com bination with an uprightrotary shaft, means for retarding its rotation, and catching hooks and delivering arms each in pairs and the pairs projecting from the shaft at right angles to each other; of a. freight holder having a pair of eyes adapted to be removably supported by said arms and another pair of eyes at right angles to the first. and adapted to be engaged by said hooks.

S. In a freight hai'idling device, the combination with an upright rotary shaft, handling members projecting radially therefrom, and a freight holder having eyesadapted to be engaged by said members; of an upright rod mounted in eyes and having brackets in which the shaft is ournaled, a

swinging truss rod supporting the upper bracket, means for swinging the rod and its brackets, and tension devices for retarding the rotation of the shaft in its journals.

9. In a freight handling device, the combination with an upright rotary shaft, a pair of members projecting radially therefrom, and a freight holder having eyes adapted to be engaged by the extremities thereof; of an upright support including brackets in which the shaft is journaled, a swinging truss rod supporting the upper bracket, and means for swinging the support and its brackets.

10. In a freight handling device, the combination with a holder, a rotary shaft, members projecting therefrom and adapted to engage the holder, bearings for the shaft, springs on the shaft pressing against the bearings, and means for adjusting their tension; of a cam on the shaft, a support including a rod having brackets connected with said bearings, a housing on one bracket, and a spring-pressed plunger in the housing engaging said cam.

11. In a freight handling device, the combination with a holder, a rotary shaft, members projecting therefrom and adapted to engage the holder, bearings for the shaft, springs pressing against the bearings; and means for adjusting their tension; of a rod, brackets connecting it with said bearings,

a housing on each bracket, a plunger in the housing and having a head, and a cam on the shaft having a flattened face engaged by said head.

5 12. A freight transfer comprising fixed and movable devices, each including a rod, and four parallel catching hooks and two parallel delivering arms projecting from the red at substantially right angles to each other, the catcher on each device being adapted to be set in the plane of the deliverer on the other.

13. A freight transfer comprising one handling device on the car and another at the station, each including a rod, and four parallel catching hooks and two parallel delivering arms projecting from the rod at substantially right angles to each other, the catcher on each device being adapted to be set in the plane of the deliverer on the other.

14-. A freight transfer comprising fixed and movable supports at the station and on the car respectively, handling devices carried by said supports and each including a shaft, means for retarding its rotation, catching hooks projecting therefrom, and delivering arms projecting therefrom at right angles to said hooks, the catcher on each device being disposed opposite the deliverer on the other. A

15. A holder for freight and the like comprising an upright box-shaped body, a door hinged to the body, and a catch and keeper for said door; combined with a handle having handling eyes, links projecting from the handle and engaging the body, and handling devices for engaging said eyes.

16. A holder for freightand the like comprising an upright box-shaped body, a door for one side hinged to the bottom of the body and forming a gangway when let down, and a catch and keeper for said door; combined with a handle having handling eyes, links projecting from the handle and engaging the body, and handling devices for engaging said eyes.

17. A holder for freight and the like comprising an upright box-shaped body with a fixed bottom, a door hinged to the body, a catch and keeper for said door, and eyes at the corners of the body; combined with a handle having handling eyes, links projecting from the handle, hooks on the links detachably engaging the eyes on the body, and handling devices for engaging said handling eyes.

18. A holder for freight and the like comprising an upright box-shaped body with a fixed bottom a door hinged to the body, a catch and keeper for said door, and eyes at .the body, and handling devices for engaging said handling eyes.

19. A holder for freight and the like comprising an upright box-shaped body with fixed bottom and open top, a door, for one side hinged to the bottom of the body and forming a gangway when let down, a catch and keeper for said door, and eyes at the corners of the body; combined with a handle having handling eyes, links projecting from the handle, hooks on the links detachably engaging the eyes on the body, and handling devices for engaging said handling eyes.

20. A holder for freight and the like comprising an upright box-shaped body with fixed bottom and open top, a door for one side hinged. to the bottom of thebody and forming a gangway when let down, a catch and keeper for said door, and eyes at all corners of the body; combined with two handles'having handling eyes, links projecting from the handles, hooks on the links detachably engaging the eyes on the corners of the body, and handling devices for engaging said handling eyes.

In a mail bag delivery device, the combination with an upright shaft, arms projecting radially therefrom and parallel with each other, and cams fast on the shaft and having flattened faces disposed in certain position relative to said arms; of a crane including brackets having journals for said shaft, and spring actuated plunge-rs mounted on the brackets and having heads engaging said cams and adapted to simultaneously engage their flattened faces when the arms stand in line with the brackets.

22. In a mail bag delivery device, the combination with an upright shaft, arms projecting radially therefrom and parallel vith each other, and cams fast on the shaft and having flattened faces parallel with each other and disposed in certain position relatively to said arms; of a crane including parallel brackets having journals for said shaft, and tension devices carried by the brackets and adapted to engage the flattened faces of the cams simultaneously.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my signature this the seventh day of April, A. D. 1908.

JOHN L. ADAM.

lVitnesses Anemia, J. J. Maonvivis. 

